Rest days are essential, sis. You’ll reach your fitness goals much faster if you incorporate rest days into your routine. You may have had some awesome sweat sessions throughout the week, but now your body needs a little TLC and time to recover.
Why You Need To Rest
A rest day allows your body - and your mind - the time it needs to consolidate all the hard work you’ve been doing. Allowing yourself a day off allows your muscles to regenerate and also avoids a workout burnout. When you’re overdoing it on the exercise front, you’re putting your body at risk of injury. You’ll find you have a lot more energy and motivation to keep pushing in your workouts if you allow yourself the time to recover.
You won’t ‘lose’ your fitness progress by taking a rest day, in fact you’ll gain more if you do.
How Many Rest Days Do You Need?
Try and schedule at least one full rest day in each week. Take more if you need to - it all depends on your fitness level, regime and circumstances. How frequently you take a rest day will depend on the amount of stress put on your body in each training session. When training with weights, ideally it's recommended to have two full days of rest before hitting each muscle group. This means that if you train on consecutive days, you should ensure you’re hitting a different area of the body, e.g. legs on Tuesday and chest and back on Wednesday. If your workout on one day is high-intensity, you can follow it the next day with a low-intensity workout.
When following THE BOD training programs, you’ll find scheduled rest days each week, as well as the option to add in more workouts if you’re feeling good or leave out if you’re not feeling it.
What Should You Do On Your Rest Day?
Here are some things to try and incorporate into your rest day to keep you feeling good on the outside and the inside.
- Stay Hydrated
Water is the number one necessity in our diets - without it, we simply cannot survive! If you struggle to remember to drink water regularly, carry a water bottle with you and set an alarm that goes off throughout the day - from there your body clock will turn drinking H20 into a habit!
You can also make a point of drinking a glass with every meal. If you aren't a fan of the taste, combine your water with fruit and vegetables like berries, lemon, lime and cucumber for a refreshing flavour.
How much water should you be drinking? For every 25kg of total body weight you should consume 1L of fluid.
- Stretch
Always, always stretch after your workout and yes, even on your rest days! Stretching is one of the best things you can do to help aid sore muscles and help prevent future injuries. Give these stretches a try - your body will thank you for it!
- Foam Roll
Foam rollers are a fantastic tool to help relieve muscle tightness, soreness, and inflammation, as well as increase your joint range of motion. Here’s how to foam roll your way to recovery.
- Eat Nourishing Foods
Your body still needs to be fuelled properly with nourishing, wholesome meals. Looking for inspo? Dig into our new High Protein Weeknight Meals recipe book or try our Smart Snacks to keep you energised and feeling fuller for longer.
Don’t forget breakfast! By skipping breakfast, you can throw your body off rhythm. Your blood sugar is a lot lower when you wake up and having breakfast helps replenish those sugar levels and get you energised and alert for the day ahead. Pack more vitamins and nutrients into your body with a hearty, nourishing breaky such as Cinnamon Nutola, or Sweet Potato & Carrot Avocado Toast.
- Embrace ‘Me’ Time
Use your rest days to relax and rejuvenate both your mind and your body - do whatever it is you need to do to re-energise! Whether that’s a day on the couch watching Netflix, a spa day, meal prepping, or spending time with family and friends. Don’t forget to repeat your positive affirmations to brighten your day - THE BOD Sticker Pack is a great way to give yourself a little self-love every time you look in the mirror, sis.
- Move Your Body
Just because it’s your rest day doesn’t mean you have to be stationary all day. Get the blood flowing with some light cardio, a walk in nature, swimming or yoga. But don’t overdo it - like we said, this is a day to take it easy.
- Get Enough Sleep
Getting enough sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health and wellbeing. More sleep can help to significantly improve productivity, performance, metabolism and your mental well-being. Not a great sleeper? Check out these tips on how to get a better night’s sleep.
Remember
If you don’t allow your muscles to recover fully after exercise, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting injured. So go rest, girl!
What’s your favourite thing to do on your rest day, sis? Let us know in the comments below!
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